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Swiftech H220 LCS All-In-One Water Cooler Review

During our recent trip to CES in Las Vegas, we had a great meeting with the guys from Swiftech. They had several items on display for us to look over, but their main reason for being at CES was to introduce the new H220 all-in-one water cooling system. You probably noticed the introduction to this cooler that was published on this website right after the conclusion of CES; and as promised by I.M.O.G., we're going to have a good look at this latest offering from Swiftech. There's little doubt all-in-one water cooling solutions are becoming increasingly popular among computer enthusiasts, and the co...

FWIW, the only other review out currently is from xcpu.com, a site I wasn't previously familiar with. Their results put the Swiftech unit about 8C better than the H100i under load though, so they likely had something wrong with their test setup... Even in Swiftech's own demonstration the temperature difference was much smaller than that.

I also have the nzxt kraken x60 and an I7 3770k that I can provide some information with. before I can do that I have to get my windows updated, and will need all the info I can get from you to try and keep everything even. ala- what heating utility, I see voltage was 1.3v @ 4.5ghz.
I should note that intel burn test seems to not really heat a chip in win7-64 without service pack1 installed- the temps seem to be about 8-10c lower without sp1.
if you want me to attempt to match your test bench let me know.

the fact that it is serviceable and expandable has to be worth something. I am interested in that unit. just couldnt wait for the timeframe they have stated.
I called them and was told that they are around 6 weeks out from having units available for retail.

I would buy that kit just for that price knowing the pump is 4 times (imo) stronger than competitors, the CPU block is similar to my high performing XT (I have v2), they didn't mix any alluminum, great fans (I have 7 of them), Swift radiator (Can't go wrong with that), changeable liquid along with the tubing and of course the upgradable feature of adding blocks or radiators or both but of course I think you'll run to a limit (thats a whole other test) before you effect the flow rate and temps.

Overall I think this is a great product for a novice and for the enthusiasts putting it in his/her folding/gaming secondary or third PCs instead of spending big cash like they did on their first.

Yes, you can get to all the important parts of the pump without any big deal... The epoxy was used in the housing to dampen pump noise according to swiftech.

I also think this is the unit to go with if you are doing all in one. You have an upgrade path with this, and once you are already on water the temptation to go further seems strong. With an h100i, or any AIO like that, you would have to sell it to offset the cost of buying everything you need for a water loop.

Also, the temps we are working with are obviously within a couple degrees. Comparing temps across systems is complicated, mounting quality varies, room temp is coarsely maintained... This confirms performance of the units is very close, but fundamentally, the components making up the swiftech unit are better. More importantly to most people, the corsair unit uses higher rpm fans and will go louder than the swiftech unit under full load.

The demo at CES showed this pump running 2x gtx 680 with an extra radiator in the loop as well. No data on flow rates, but at the end of the day, temps stayed steady under load in an acceptable range... That's two additional GPU blocks and a radiator creating more resistance.

Thanks!

Hey gents! Great review and just wanted to comment about my review you linked over at XCPUS.com... The H100i we tested with was setup in a different system located in a different part of the country. We tried, as you did with yours, to keep things as near identical as possible to obtain our testing results. The cases were different (Corsair 650d vs Silverstone Raven 2), so that could have impacted performance results as well. Bottom line, though, as shown in your review, the H220 cools better. I am personally getting Corsair's H110 to do a direct comparison, so that will be a much more accurate review of the two units.

I'm pretty sure the copper radiator and better flow coupled with a nice block will outperform the other AIO's if tested on a higher heat load, say like an I7 950 at 4.2ghz and 1.45v or a 3930k oced. The 3770k doesn't heat things very much, it just has a bad thermal interface to the ihs.

"What it can take scales inversely with how much you want it to not die." Bobnova

I'm pretty sure the copper radiator and better flow coupled with a nice block will outperform the other AIO's if tested on a higher heat load, say like an I7 950 at 4.2ghz and 1.45v or a 3930k oced. The 3770k doesn't heat things very much, it just has a bad thermal interface to the ihs.